BELGRADE, Serbia (AFP) — Serbia fans were disappointed with their team’s opening World Cup encounter with Ghana yesterday, but vowed a defeat did not mean the “end of the world”.

“We were not ourselves, it looked as if the squad was playing for the first time together,” complained Pavle Jankovic who joined his friends in a central Belgrade bar to watch the match.

Six minutes before the end of the match, Asamoah Gyan scored a penalty for Ghana, giving them a 1-0 victory over 10-man Serbia in Group D at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria.

Many Belgrade bars set up large TV screens for guests to enjoy the match, but as the played unfolded, their faces were getting more worried.

“It’s always like this with Serbia: we cannot stand pressure and even the best failed,” said Marija, one of the few women in one pub.

But Jankovic said the defeat could be a “waking-up alarm”.

“It’s not the end of the world, there are three more matches to be played and this will be a good warning for all of them,” he said.

Instead of celebratory horn-honking around the city centre, many fan left open-air bars silently, with heads bowed.

Earlier, many supporters were even providing musical accompaniment for the match.

“We don’t have vuvuzelas, we have our trumpets,” 22-year-old Nemanja Jovic said as he proudly showed off the brass instrument that Serbian folk music is famed for.

His face painted in red, white and blue — Serbia’s national colors — Jovic was among several dozen fans gathered in the Wonder Cafe, where bartenders offerred special cocktails named after Serbian squad players.

“The most popular are the Nemanja Vidic and Nikola Zigic cocktails: non-alcholic beverages ideal for the African heat,” said bartender Milija Janic, as Belgrade temperatures also soared.

The Vidic contains orange, mango and peach juice as well as a secret ingredient, Janic said.

At the Belgrade Sea — a popular artifical lake — hundreds of fans gathered at the so-called City of Football, a tent set up by local authorities with several large video screens.

“We have already won,” joked Branko and Mitar, two teenagers after playing their own table football match.

In Serbia’s second-largest town, Novi Sad, screens were up on the banks of the river Danube, with all spots to watch the game booked days in advance.

In neighbouring Bosnia, supporters were gathering in the Bosnian Serb capital Banja Luka to watch the match in outdoor bars and restaurants.